Diabetes, Vol 27, Issue 10 975-981, Copyright © 1978 by American Diabetes Association
Vascular lesions associated with impotence in diabetic and nondiabetic arterial occlusive disease
A Herman, R Adar and Z Rubinstein
Translumbar aortographies performed in 91 patients for limiting leg
ischemia were reviewed, and stenosis was graded by points from one (normal
vessel) to five (complete occlusion) for each vessel. Of 62 nondiabetic
patients, 18 (29 per cent) were impotent, while of 29 diabetics, 17 (58.6
per cent) were impotent (p less than 0.01). Significantly greater stenosis
(p less than 0.005) was found in the internal pudendal arteries of impotent
patients when compared statistically with potent patients. This was true
for the group as a whole, for diabetics and nondiabetics, and for patients
over 50 years old both with and without diabetes. There was no significant
difference in the extent of stenosis of the iliac arteries (common and
internal) between potent and impotent patients. There was also no
significant difference in the pattern of stenosis between diabetic and
nondiabetic patients in the group as a whole and also in the potent and
impotent subgroups analyzed separately. Neither diminished femoral pulses
nor aortographic evidence of external iliac and common femoral arterial
stenosis correlated significantly with impotence. These observations
indicate that vascular lesions are as important in diabetics as in
nondiabetics in the genesis of impotence. Clinical implications regarding
diagnostic investigations and treatment are discussed.